EXPLANATION OF THE ROUTINE
The routine starts with running between cones and running another 3 meter until the next station. Here, four cones are placed in a square. The children will run by respecting the color assigned going around the square. Then they are passing the bench ”like riding it” with the hands on the marks. Next is zig-zag running, touching the markers with the hand. The last station consists of passing through a tunnel and then run to the finish. 

EXECUTION OF THE ROUTINE
In this routine the child is going to perform an obstacle course with five different exercises. It can be incorporated as a warming-up or as part of the PE curriculum. It consists of varies movement skills, such as running, change of direction, jumping and landing. In this routine, the primary context is an indoor sports area where PE teachers regularly perform the PE lessons at school. The routine can be used as warming-up for different types of goals in PE (i.e. jumping, balancing, playing tag, etc.) or as a core exercise in a PE lesson.

PREPARATION
Materials needed:

  • 13 cones: 9 blue, 2 red, 1 yellow, 1 green
  • 3 benches
  • 4 mattresses
  • Colourful tape

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: HOW DO WE REACH OPTIMAL MOTOR LEARNING AND APPLY SELF-DETERMINATION?

  • Implicit motor learning: This is stimulated with the external focus / analogy examples of instructions/feedback to improve body posture while balancing, jumping and landing and changing directions.
  • Challenge/Fun: With two courses: beating the opponents during the race (challenge). Furthermore, winning points (based on difficulty level or movement execution (optimal vs. suboptimal)) can be collected to make it more fun. The unanticipated landings and cutting movements make it challenging and context specific. Picking your own material also makes it fun.
  • Motivation: Enhanced by providing autonomy to choose the level of exercise to practice and materials to practice with. Furthermore, exercises will be done together to make it more fun. Enhanced expectancies: different difficulty levels between and within exercises. You can add a point-system (easy: 1 point; intermediate: 2 points; difficult: 3 points) to encourage the pupils.
  • Autonomy: Make the players choose or control different aspect of the play (e.g. buddy and material to practice with and level of exercise).
  • Competence: Feeling of competence is created by giving the child option to choose a variation of the exercise (by means of level or material). Let the child pick the version of the routine s/he feels most comfortable with to complete successfully. Also, positive feedback from teacher confirming good trials well boost feelings of competence
  • Relatedness: Feeling of relatedness is created by practicing with and helping peers.
  • Differentiation (age/difficulty): The routine is made in order to be easily adapted by the PE teacher for various children‘s needs.
  • You can add a point-system (easy: 1 point; intermediate: 2 points; difficult: 3 points) to encourage the pupils

POSSIBLE VARIATIONS
You can add variations to the obstacle course by:

  • The obstacle course can be shortened or extended to fit the timeframe and purpose of the PE lesson.
  • Adding more exercises to the obstacle course.
  • Vary in type of materials you are using (balls, beanbags, cones, etc).
  • Let a child close one eye during the obstacle course.
  • Let children choose the way they cross the obstacle course (i.e. sideways of backwards).
  • Use iPads with video-delayed feedback for children to watch themselves.
  • One child starts first and the next one will go to the race after hearing the signal given by the previous child who completes the route and shouts to his buddy GO!
  • “Follow the captain” in order to ensure the possibility to create different versions and variants of running / movements skills by themselves.
  • Can be described as a “story” in the preparatory class at the youngest pupils

You can make this routine easier by making the tasks simpler, for example by performing the jumping and landing tasks and the change of direction tasks preplanned.

It starts with running between cones and running another 3 meter until the next station. Here, four cones are placed in a square. The children will run by respecting the color assigned going around the square. Then they are passing the bench ”like riding it” with the hands on the marks. Next is zig-zag running, touching the markers with the hand. The last station consists of passing through a tunnel and then run to the finish. 

You can make this routine more difficult by adjusting the different exercises, scaling them up in difficulty and speed or adding more complex movements. Making the tasks unplanned, will require the child to react by for example catching a ball while landing from a jump or quickly change direction to a coloured cone which is shorted by the PE teacher.  You can also add different variations to make the child perform a dual task like transporting balls, or make the movement unexpected when executing the movements by running back and forth, crossing over, jumping side way. Or use different coloured markers, shout the colours at the last moment, etcetera.